


Surprise Hug Day

by solidburnreturned



Category: Trolls (2016)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Making Up, Pre-Movie, aggressive hugging, these two being dramatic dorks basically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-06 21:39:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14656758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solidburnreturned/pseuds/solidburnreturned
Summary: It's Surprise Hug Day, and Poppy is ready to give Branch the best hug of his entire life. This ends up putting them both on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.





	Surprise Hug Day

**Author's Note:**

> just a one shot I've been wanting to write! enjoy!

Poppy skipped along through the forest, arms outstretched so that her fingers grazed every soft blade of grass and every colorful flower in her reach. Her smile was as wide as ever, rivaling the shining sun up above. But of course she was in a good mood; she was on the hunt.

Today was Surprise Hug Day, one of her all-time favorite holidays of the year. She knew exactly who she wanted to give her surprise hug to. It would be perfect! Branch, the village grump, could not refuse a hug that he didn’t know was coming!

Poppy smiled proudly and patted herself on the back. Pure genius. Branch had been particularly gloomy as of late, seeming to spend more time sulkily sitting around on vines and rocks, his stress lines quite evident on his scrunched face, rather than foraging for supplies like usual. He was definitely in need of a good, solid embrace. She wanted to sing, she was so excited, but knew that he would hear her coming should she belt out even a single note. Those ears of his weren’t just for show. So she kept her footfalls light and her trap shut, having her eyes wide open instead to spy the one dark spot in what seemed to be the entire forest. Maybe he wouldn’t be grey anymore after this hug. Maybe she could squeeze out all that negativity and grumpiness, and he’d go back to being...whatever colors he was supposed to be! Happy and smiling and hugging her back! She just couldn’t wait another second.

Luckily, she didn’t have to. As she rounded the corner of a large, mossy bolder, she hopped back behind it immediately, seeing Branch only a few yards away.

Branch was moving away from the undetected princess, awkwardly hunched over so that he was almost bent in half. Earlier that day, while trying to collect ripe pears from a tall tree, he had lost his footing with a particularly large pear and his arms and slipped off of the branch. He’d managed to break his fall with his hair, but the fat fruit that he’d thrown into the air in his shock had quickly followed him down, hitting him square in the back and squashing him into the dirt. His spine had made a very odd sound, like stepping on some dead leaves or fallen twigs.

“Throwing out your freaking back at my age,” Branch growled to himself through gritted teeth, inching along carefully. “Are you 25 or 55?”

At this point he just wanted to get to his bunker, get himself some ice, and lie down for the next week. The piercing pain in his back was making this difficult, keeping him doubled over and hardly able to walk without grunts of discomfort accompanying every tiny step. Being this vulnerable to attack from predators made him incredibly paranoid. His ears were up and twitching, keen to any suspicious sound.

But not quite keen enough.

Poppy, overwhelmed with wild eagerness to give Branch the most incredible hug of his life, was blind to his current condition. She jumped on top of the boulder, eyes wide and focused on her target, a wide grin spreading over her face. She opened her arms slowly, sliding down to the ground, positioning herself directly behind the grumbling troll before launching herself at top speed towards him.

Branch’s ears swiveled towards the footsteps that were rapidly gaining on him. His face contorted with horror, realizing he was absolutely defenseless. He couldn’t even twist around to face his attacker. He braced himself for his doom.

_“HAPPY SURPRISE HUG DAY, BRANCH!”_

His eyes snapped open. It was a fate far worse than doom.

“Poppy, wait-!” Too late.

Her arms wrapped around him from behind and he was crushed against her. She squeezed as hard as she could, trying to force as much love and care into this one hug as she possibly could. Branch let out a shriek of what she thought was surprise, but the loud pop and crack from his spine made her think twice.

“Whoa! Was that your back?” Poppy laughed, craning her neck to peek at his face.

Branch nodded slowly, turning a few different shades of purple. “Poppy...I can’t...breathe...”

“Oh!” She loosen her grip considerably. “Sorry!”

He coughed and gasped, going limp in her arms. She watched his expression with anticipation, waiting to see if he’d turn colorful and happy, or stay grumpy and grey. He surprised her by looking confused and rather flustered. Her arms fell back at her sides and he was dropped back onto his feet.

“...Oh. That’s...much better, actually.” He turned to face her, standing up straight and rubbing the small of his back.

“You feel happy?” Poppy squealed, hands pressed to her cheeks.

“What? No. You fixed my back.”

The princess’s face fell. “I what?”

“My back.” He twisted to and fro, leaned side to side, testing to see if everything was working properly again. “I hurt it earlier while I was foraging.”

Poppy raised her eyebrows. “Did I smash everything back into place then or something?”

He rolled his eyes. “Crude way of putting it, but yes. So...thanks, I guess.” He pressed his lips together in an odd attempt at a smile, bounced his eyebrows, and started walking away.

His departure was interrupted by another bear hug from behind. “Not so fast!”

“Hey, hey!” He squawked, trying to twist out of her grasp. “Enough already, before you throw it back out!”

She swung him to and fro in frustration, keeping her arms locked around him. “I just do not understand you!”

“What are you _talking_ about?” Branch barked.

“You’re supposed to be happy!”

He turned purple once again, this time from anger rather than lack of oxygen. “What do you mean? Put me _down_ , Poppy!”

“No! Not until you’re feeling better!”

He struggled more violently, kicking and thrashing. “I have work to do!”

She fell forward, squashing him under her weight in an attempt to subdue him. “You need to work on your attitude!”

“Quit acting like a trolling!” He spluttered, thoroughly embarrassed by their current position. “I don’t _do_ happy!”

“Well you’re gonna start!” She wrapped her legs around his waist, her hug going full-body.

Guy Diamond and Smidge watched the snarling, writhing pair of trolls in both amusement and slight horror from behind the same boulder Poppy had been hiding behind earlier.

“I almost feel like this is something we shouldn’t be watching,” Guy Diamond whispered, cringing.

Smidge was biting her tongue to keep her laughter in. “Are you kidding? This is the best thing I’ve seen all week!”

The glitter troll winced as Branch face-planted into the dirt again. The furious troll rolled over onto Poppy, leaning all his weight into her. She retaliated by giving his ear a hard bite, earning a very odd high-pitched noise.

“Ouch,” Guy hissed, flattening his own ears back.

“I wish I had some popcorn,” Smidge cackled. “Oh, wait!” She reached into her hair and pulled out a bucket of buttery popcorn with a triumphant hoot.

“Why. Won’t. You. Just. Brighten. UP!” Poppy bit out each word, fighting to stay on Branch’s back.

“Poppy, so help me, if you don’t let me go RIGHT NOW-!”

“NOT UNTIL YOU GET HAPPY!” She wrapped her hair around them both, securing her spot against him.

He retaliated by shoving his hair in between locks of her’s, straining against the tight hold she had on the both of them. She held fast, refusing to give up. He was getting worn out, and she had to admit, she was starting to pant as well. However, determination kept her grip unyielding, stubbornly prepared to wait out the troll trapped in her embrace. One final violent attempt at freedom, and Branch crashed to the ground once more, and stayed put. They both huffed and coughed, exhausted and sweaty.

“I don’t understand you one bit,” Poppy wheezed. “This is the biggest, warmest, tightest hug I’ve ever given, and you’re not the least bit cheery about it.”

“Because,” Branch spat between gasps, “I don’t _like_ hugs, you absolute maniac!”

“What kind of troll doesn’t like hugs?” She exclaimed.

“Me! Branch kinds of trolls!”

“You’re impossible!” She gave him a firm squeeze, earning a short grunt. “It’s like you don’t know how to be happy at all!”

He stayed silent for a moment at that, digging his toes into the dirt. “...Please just let me go.”

His sudden change of tone startled Poppy, not expecting him to go from sounding ready to bite her head off to sounding so depressed. He must’ve surprised himself as well, as he quickly added a firm “Now.”

With a disappointed sigh, she retracted her hair and untangled her limbs from his. He quickly stood, dusting himself off and avoiding eye contact.

“...I’m sorry, I...I just hate seeing you so...” She shrugged, eyes downcast.

A sigh was heaved through his nose. He opened his mouth to reply, but shut it again, ears drooping. Soft sniffling made his head shoot up to look at her watery eyes. “Hey, don’t...don’t cry, alright? It’s whatever, I-”

“It’s not whatever!” She cried, causing him to step back. “I never see you happy, I’ve never seen you sing or dance or give someone a hug or even laugh ever since we met! Which was what, like, 20 years ago or something? All I’ve ever seen you do is yell, collect your dumb sticks, frown, and be all mean and grumpy and sad and-and... _grey_! What _happened_ to you?”

Silence. He stood there, eyes wide, caught completely off guard by this outburst. She stared at him expectantly, her nose inches from his, waiting to see what he would say. But he didn’t know how to respond.

So he didn’t.

He turned tail and ran into the forest, leaving the princess standing there, stunned.

\---

“So you guys saw all of that, huh?” Poppy sat glumly on her bed in her pod, joined by Guy Diamond and Smidge.

“Well, we were both sneaking up on you to give you a surprise hug...” Guy admitted.

“...But we got distracted by your impromptu wrestling match with storm cloud back there,” Smidge chuckled. “Speaking of which, I might go pay him a visit soon.” She pulled a club out of her hair, smacking it in her hand. “Knees or guts, Poppy?”

Poppy bit her lip. “Neither.”

“Nose, then?”

“Smidge,” Guy snapped. She rolled her eyes and stashed the club away. “Don’t beat yourself up, Poppy,” The sparkly troll said, patting her on the back. “You were trying to be nice!”

“By asking why he’s grey in, like, the meanest way possible and making him run away? How is that nice?” She buried her face in her hands. “I just wanted him to be colorful...”

“He’ll get over it. You two have had your spats before, and he still comes running to warn you about bergens the next day.” Smidge shrugged. “I wouldn’t sweat it. That guy is made of stone.”

Poppy shook her head. “You don’t understand...he looked so upset, so...afraid...”

“He’s usually afraid, isn’t he? Isn’t that like...his thing?” Guy asked.

“This was different. I’ve never seen him with that look on his face.” She looked up at her friends, worry evident in her eyes. “Do...you guys know what happened to him?”

They both glanced at each other and shook their heads firmly.

“Honestly, Poppy, I think you’re the only troll in the village that he really talks to. If anyone was gonna know Branch’s deep dark secrets, it would be you,” Smidge stated, Guy Diamond nodding in agreement.

“I guess I kinda blew it then, huh?”

Smidge let out a cry of frustration. “You’re gonna turn as grey as him if you keep up this pity party! Why don’t you just go talk to him?”

Poppy sat up straight, drumming her fingers on her knees anxiously. “You think he’d wanna talk to me after all that?”

“It might be smart to wait a bit...” Guy started, but Smidge cut him off.

“No way, you two need to make up and get this behind you both! Drama like this is just gonna fester into something awkward and unpleasant the more you leave it sitting on the table. You’ll be living in a soap opera before you know it!”

“It’s up to Poppy,” Guy said firmly, standing up. “Whatever you decide to do, we’ll be around for you if you need to talk. Okay? We’ll give you time alone to think about it.”

Poppy smiled and nodded. “Thanks, guys.”

They all hugged warmly before Guy and Smidge left her pod, Smidge still expressing her want to use the club she had hiding in her hair. Poppy laid back in her bed with a groan of frustration and exhaustion. She’d really screwed up that surprise hug. Would Branch never talk to her again? What if he hated her now?

A hurried knock on her pod door prompted her to pop her head up. “Come in!”

No response. She screwed her face up in confusion. Maybe someone was waiting outside for a last-minute surprise hug before the day was done? Sliding off her bed sluggishly, she made her way to her door and opened it just a bit, peeking out into the dark of night. No one was there.

She opened the door further, poking her head out. “Hello?” She called. “Come for a hug?”

Nothing. She opened the door fully and stepped out, looking around for any sign of another troll. Seemed like everyone was already tucked into their own pods for the night. Maybe she was starting to hear things. Knocked her head into the ground one too many times in her squabble with Branch. She was about to head back in when she noticed a small scrap of paper had been pinned to her door. It was smudged with charcoal and was crinkled horribly, like it had been wadded up in someone’s hand for a decent amount of time. She plucked it off her door and unfolded it. The writing was in dark charcoal, a bit sloppy, but still legible.

_Poppy,_

_Sorry about today. I hope you’re okay. Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. I drew this and thought you might like it. So here you go. Don’t show it to anyone. I mean it._

_Branch_

_P.S. Thanks again for fixing my back. You should be a chiropractor._

Poppy grinned from ear to ear at the short, blunt note. His sense of humor was so weird, but Poppy enjoyed his dryness when he decided to let it show. Below it was a messy drawing of a grinning Poppy with her arms wrapped tightly around Branch. He wasn’t hugging back, but she could see the smallest mark on the paper that indicated that he was, indeed, smiling.


End file.
